


Hiding scars

by XxAerynxX



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, F/M, Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Parent alcoholic, Past Abuse, past depression, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-22
Updated: 2015-12-30
Packaged: 2018-05-02 03:41:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5232593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XxAerynxX/pseuds/XxAerynxX
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>University is difficult when your trying to hide your scars from someone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. All you need is love

**Author's Note:**

> There are probably tons of mistakes so sorry it's just I want to post this and will re go through it ASAP!

"Remmm" Lily whined to her oldest friend. "Please?" She practically begged.

She was trying to convince her best friend to come to a pre-uni party with her because she really didn't want to go alone and apparently he needed to make friends.

"Lily you know I hate crowds" he replied and tried to start reading his book again but the red head snatched the book off of him.

"Come on sweetie we need to make you look cute, not that you aren't already I mean but there's nothing wrong with getting some guys attention you know?" She said while grabbing his wrist and dragging him to her room of their shared flat.

Remus sighed knowing he couldn't really ever refuse Lily and sat down on her bed while she sorted his hair out saying "you should wear your red sweater, it suits you."

"I know Lily, that's what you said when you bought it for me."

After Lily finished doing his hair (she had long since given up on the few strands that always fell in his eyes) she pushed him towards his room instructing him to make sure he looked cute and that he probably would anyway if he was trying not to.

He grabbed the red sweater Lily loved and also grabbed a pair of skinny, but not to skinny, jeans and then a pair of sneakers before looking in the miror and tried to sweep the few strands out of his face but they fell right back down.

"Lily are you dressed?" He asked knocking on his friends door and stepped in when she replied with the ok.

She was currently applying a thin coat of mascara and Remus said "you know Lily if I didn't think of you as a sister and you weren't out of my legue, and if I wasn't gay obviously, I would be honoured to date you."

Lily smiled brightly at him through the mirror and replied with "the same to you Rem."

~~~

"We can leave if you hate it a lot" Lily said to her friend when she felt him pause slightly at the sight of the party in front of them but he just shook his head "no you go enjoy yourself and I'll sit outside if it gets overwhelming."

When they walked in Lily saw a few people from hers and Remus old school so they walked over to the drinks to greet them before Lily dragged Remus towards the music so they could dance together.

Remus squirmed a bit at the sight of tons of people but he and Lily found a mostly clear space and dance together for a while and before long he was being dragged off again to meet people.

After a while off wondering they were greeted by two boys who seemed to have organised the party.

The slightly shorter one had black messy hair, making him look like he had just stuck his head out of a car window, and glasses. He was wearing designer clothes so Remus assumed he was either rich or spoilt. He also a huge grin on his face as he introduced himself as James.

The boy next to him made Remus' breath catch. Long story short he was gorgeous. He was slightly shorter than Remus and he had the sort of confidence that made him seem like the centre of everything.

His hair was long and pulled into a pony tail at the back of his neck but a few strands of hair had come loose and framed his face perfectly. His eyes were ringed with smudgy black eyeliner but Remus would have been drawn to those grey eyes full of life without the makeup there.

The boys grin was slightly smaller and more mischievous and his name was Sirius. Remus was suprised he even caught his name as most of his attention was drawn to the impossibly skinny black jeans and a band t shirt and the lip peircing (he should stop focusing on his lips before it gets creepy he briefly thought.)

There were tattoos peaking out from underneath the t shirt on his neck and there were a few lining his arms, not quite a sleeve and completely perfect.

Lily was nudging him in the ribs and he realised he had zoned out, he always did at the worst time, and he was supposed to be introducing himself. "Oh um right sorry I'm- I'm Remus."

"Cool name" Sirius grinned "what are you studying?"

Remus would be content with studying that face but he quickly shook his head of those cheesy thoughts and replied "I'm taking history, you?"

"That's cool, same as Prongs. I'm taking art. So urm are you and Lily together then? You seem pretty close so I was just curious."

The two best friends looked at each other quickly and Remus chuckled while Lily let out a louder laugh.

Sirius raised an eyebrow at the two and after Lily caught her breath she replied "Sorry it's just that.." she paused and looked over at Remus who continued "I'm pretty gay."

Lily giggled and mumbled "understatement" while Sirius smiled obviously amused. "Right" he said "it's just I saw the two of dancing, wrong to assume I guess."

Remus flushed slightly at the thought of Sirius seeing his dancing (which had mostly been jumping) and hoped the darkness would cover his light pink cheeks.

~~~

James and Sirius had found some more friends but had left with promises of talking again soon and Lily was enjoying making friends with some girls who were also taking English Literature so Remus decided to sit outside for a while to get some fresh air, the smell of partying was giving him a slight headache.

Remus was leaning against against the wall with his eyes closed when he head footsteps crunching on stomes getting closer. He opened his eyes to see Sirius grinning at him.

"Not a huge party person huh? You didn't strike me as one really."

Remus smiked and shook his head "no Lily dragged me here with instructions to look cute and maybe get a few guys attention."

"Well you succeeded" Sirius winked and stuck his tongue out ever so slightly, making Remus blush and showing off a tongue peircing.

Sirius pulled out a cigarette and a lighter and then looked over to Remus "do you mind? I can wait for a fag if you hate them?" Acting as though he hadn't just basically called Remus cute.

Remus shook his head and said "no that's fine, I'm not a smoker myself but I don't mind people who are."

"Well it's always great when people don't mind me" Sirius said before bringing the cigarette to his lips, leaving Remus in a trance.

Sirius was weraing a leather jacket now, which was a shame really as Remus really wanted to look at his tattoos, and he looked totally relaxed leaning against the wall with his eyes closed.

As he stared at the gorgeous man in front of him Remus couldn't help feeling self concious. His hair would never look that perfectly messed up and he had scars instead of tattoos, most of which he could cover with long sleeves but the few that were on his face were still clear. In fact he was suprised Sirius hadn't commented on them yet.

Now that they were in the light Remus could see small faded bruises along Sirius' jaw and a small scar around his ear and he briefly wondered were he had got them but didn't comment as Sirius hadn't mentioned his (which werefar more noticeable)

"So what's your story then?" Sirius asked and opened one eyes to look at Remus.

"Um, my story?" Remus asked confused and Sirius replied "let's start basics, why history? Why not...I dunno, why not music?"

Remus laughed slightly and replied "I'm tone death and I once tried to learn guitar but I just broke one of the strings and History is interesting, I mean obviously their dead but it's fun to learn about what other peoples lives were like, why art?"

"I'm pretty decent at it and it's fun" Sirius said and then said "you and Lily been friends long?"

"Since we were nine, we moved just three houses away from her, you and James? You guys seem like good mates."

"More like brothers really, ever since we were eleven cos we went to school together. He like my family. I moved into his parents house when I was fifteen after I left home.

"Me and Lily too, well other then me living with her, I meant we are basically family.

Sirius laughed, a barking sort of laugh, and then asked "not gonna ask why I left at 15?" And Remus just shrugged "only if you want to tell me."

He got a weird look, well not weird more questioning, and then a slight smile. If only he had photographic memory Remus thought.

"Well in short I have a shitty family" Sirius shrugged and then dropped the fag on the ground before stomping it out.

"So what do you do then?" Remus asked to change the subject.

"What like job or enjoyment?" Sirius asked and Remus just shrugged and said "both I guess."

"Well I work at this motorbike repair shop at the moment, that's my baby over there" he said pointing over at a gorgeous black bike and continued "and mostly drawing, painting, music and I'm working on my photography skills at the moment."

"Oh that's really cool" Remus replied "I'm going to sound so lame now, oh my god I've got no life."

Sirius laughed again and said "oh well you've gotta say it now."

"Alright well I work at this bookstore slash cafe and um well I read a lot and um... not much else, I've got a dog though."

Sirius smiled again and said "no reading and dogs are pretty great, plus there's nothing wrong with a good old coffee, what's the place you work out called? Maybe I'll visit you."

Remus imagined it and knew if Sirius ever visited he would probably get fired because he would be to distracted to work properly.

"It's called all you read is love" Remus replied and Sirius grinned (God he grinned so much, it was amazing) and said "what as in the song, all you need is love?"

"Yeah except it's the nerd version" Remus joked which made Sirius laugh loudly(honestly Remus needed to be a comedian just so he could hear Sirius laugh all the time)

The two continued to talk idly about things that interested them before Remus asked "so hey did you parents name you after the star or are they just really serious people and wanted to convey that?"

Sirius grinned a little and said "well their serious people but no its the star, it's some weird family tradition. My brother and cousins are all named after stars as well. How about you? You parents really like Italy?"

Remus smiled and said "yeah my mum, it gets worse though since my surnames Lupin so I guess they wanted me to be some sort of wolf child which is sorta ironic."

"Ironic? How?" Sirius asked his eyebrows raised a little and Remus realised his mistake and said "oh nothing really" praying Sirius wouldn't question him.

Someone answered his prayers and Sirius just shrugged.

~~~

"Rem!" Lily shouted "oh my god I got so worried, I thought you'd gone home alone."

Remus was laughing with Sirius, sitting and leaning against the wall, when he saw Lily.

"Sorry Lily, lost track of time I guess." He replied feeling slightly guilty as he stood up but she just hugged him and sighed.

"Well let's go back anyway, we gotta be up early for shopping tomorrow."

Remus groaned slightly and then looked over to Sirius who was wiping grass off his legs and was smiling at Remus.

"Well it was cool to meet you, want to give me your number and I can warn you if I'm gonna show up to your cafe?"

Remus smiled brightly glad that he hadn't had to ask, he probably would have chickened out, and reached into his pocket and the two exchanged numbers before saying goodbye.

~~~

"So Sirius is cool" Lily said nudging Remus with her elbow and Remus just sighed, he should have expected it to be honest.

"Yeah he is, also gorgeous and knowing my luck also 100 percent straight." Rems said with a slight frown, he knew he didn't have a chance even if Sirius wasn't straight. The man was so out of his league.

Lily grinned at him which made Remus frown at her wondering what she was thinking and then she said "well see I talked to James and Sirius is bi, though he tends to like guys more so" she poked him in the ribs "you never know."

Remus felt his heart skip a beat but then he sighed "Lily lok at him and look at me? And no one likes a guy with scars everywhere."

"Oh shush Remus you are to mean to yourself, your aren't just adorable but your funny and kind and lovely and if people don't like your scars they aren't worth you time."

He was about to Reply when he felt a buzz in his pocket and pulled his phone out wondering who would text him at this time.

**From Sirius: hey :P miss me yet?1.07**

**From Sirius: i miss you ;P   1.07**

Remus couldn't not smile making Lily suspicious and she snatched the phone off him before grinning. "You should say your gorgeous"

Remus rolled his eyes and grabbed the phone back before typing back quickly.

**To Sirius: Hmmm...   1.08**

**To Sirius: I'll think about it.  1.09**

The reply was almost instant

**From Sirius: you wound me darling DX  1.09**

Remus continued texting Sirius and half listening to Lily, smiling the entire time.

~~~

The next few days passed in a blur of buying furniture for the new flat, making sure they had all the right textbooks and equipment and fixing the wifi twice.

Before Remus knew it he was getting ready for his first lecture tomorrow when his phone buzzed next to him. He quickly put all the books his was holding in a pile on his bed and then picked up his phone.

He and Sirius had been texting back and forth for the five days which mostly consisted of Sirius being an outrageous flirt and which lead to Remus getting extremely embarrassed.

 **From Sirius: hey there darling :P   8.32** **  
**

**From Sirius: want to come to ours after your and prongs first lecture?    8.32**

**To Sirius: Sure, I've got work at 4.30 though.    8.34**

**From Sirius: well that gives you 3 hours of this beautiful face ;)   8.35**

**To Sirius: Wouldn't want to miss out :-P   8.35**

**To Sirius: Oh hey could I bring Wolfie? It's just Lily is out and I don't like leaving him alone for to long.   8.35**

**From Sirius: no problem :D    8.35**

**From Sirius: you can leave him here so you don't have to back to yours and then back again   8.35**

**To Sirius: Really? Thank you so much.   8.36**

**From Sirius: no problemo :P   8.36**

~~~

"Oh Lily by the way I'm going to see Sirius and then go to work and Wolfie is coming with, Sirius said he could look after him for a few hours while I'm at work as well." 

Lily smiled cheekily at him and said "have fun at your lecture then and have fun on your date" as she stuck her tongue out and then disappeared back into her room before Remus could say anything.

Remus rolled his eyes and then headed out to get to his lectire, buzzing at the thought of seing Sirius again.

~~~

The lecture went quickly and soon Remus and James were on walking to the boys shared place (they didn't actually live where the party was, it was a friend of theres) after picking up Wolfie on the way.

Remus was listening to James talk about football, he rarely saw anyone so exited about sport but he enjoyed it. He liked James, he was energetic and easy to talk to. James also loved Wolfie and talked about how much Sirius loved dogs.

After about 15 minutes the two arrived at a small house and James unlocked the door before yelling up the stairs "Padfoot! I'm home!" And all Remus could do was chuckle at how couple-y they were.

Remus was just taking the lead off of Wolfie when a pair of footsteps came hurrying down the stairs.

"Remus, darling" Sirius grinned and then crouched down to greet Wolfie. "Hi there" he said while scratching behind the dogs ear and then laughed when he jumped up to try lick him. "Well your exiteable aren't you?" 

He stood up again and then motioned with his head behind him. "Come on I'll gve you the grand tour."

Sirius then walked around showing him the ground floor (which consisted of a living room, small kitchen joined to a dining room and a bathroom) which had mostly mismatched furniture and was basically the definition of homey to Remus. It was farely small and very cosy and Remus loved the way Sirius would show of the random knick knacks they had. "Oh this was a gift from Mrs Potter. This is realy cool actually, got it when I was younger from Portugal. Oh yeah check this out!"

Remus followed behind him, mostly not talking and just listening to all the stroies of the house that Sirius had. Then they made their way upstairs (followed by an exited Wolfie) and the three walked into Sirius room.

His attention was immediately drawn to the band posters hung up across one of the walls and the desk which was over flowing with pieces of paper that seemed like they had drawings and paintings on, he only caught a glimpse though.

The room was farely tidy though, which was a suprise, other than a few shoes and the desk. Remus had expected Sirius to be the sort to just leave chaos everywhere and half chuckled when he saw the relative neatness.

"Hm?" Sirius asked with a slight smiling obviously wandering what was amusing and Remus laughed quietly again. "Well I mean it seems very you" he said gesturing to the guitars and doc martens "other than the fact that I never thought you'd be so tidy."

Sirus laughed at that and replied "you insult me darling, I'll have you know I am amazing at keeping my things in order. Well other than my drawings." He added gesturing to his desk.

Remus laughed a little and shrugged before sitting down on the bed when motioned towards it.

~~~

"Alright well I'll be back in a few hours to collect this one then" Remus said while smiling at Sirius and the waved at Jame who was standing in the kitchen. "See you two later then."

While Remus walked towards work he felt himself smiling widely and briefly wonderd how weird he looked but banashed the thought realising how little he cared.

All through work Remus was re living the few hours he had with Sirius. The two had talked while sitting on Sirius' bed. Sirius had talked about his brother, Regulus, and his cousin Andy, who was a girl. He had briefly mentioned his other cousin but not once mentioned his parents so Remus hadn't asked. Remus had talked about his family and how his dad died when he was 12 and how lovely his moher was.

James had joined them while walking Wolfie and the three had talked about stupid stuff they had done as kids. James seemed to have storues upon stories of the trouble he had got in but Sirius stayed mostly quiet, allowing James to explain to Remus the pranks they had done and didn't mention whether he had done anything else.

The best thing had been when the three of them were lounging around in the living room and Remus couldn't help but feel at home, the place was just perfect (as well as the company)

"Earth to Remus?" Marlene said waving a hand in front of his face "I said small mocha, not medium." 

"Oh sorry I was just....lost in thought I guess, she won't mind a bigger drink though will she?"

"No she won't and no I've seen you lost in thought and I've also seen you daydream about someone, guess what I think this is." 

Remus rolled his eyes at her jokingly and walked away instead of replying knowing it was answer enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yah so all you read is love is actually a really cute cafe near me and I actually love it! It's super hipster with mismatched furniture and decor and record and fairy lights!  
> Also please comment constructive criticism because I love that! :)


	2. I think I'm fallin, I'm fallin for ya

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this has taken so bloody long! I've been pretty busy and then some family shit has been happening and I just couldn't focus on writing basically  
> Criticism is welcome by the way!

Lily waked into his room and grabbed his blanket off of him forcing him to get up.

"Come on Rem, we greed to be at James and Sirius' place soon and you haven't changed yet."

"Lilyyy" he whined trying to get the blanket back but soon gave up "what's wrong with this anyway?"

His friend rolled her eyes before grabbing a forest green sweater and some jeans out of his small wardrobe and chucked them at his head before leaving telling him to be ready in 5 minutes.

For some reason Remus had allowed himself to be talked into another party and Lily had arranged for them to go and see Remus and James first so they could go together as she didn't know the way.

Slightly regretting to agree now Remus yawned and pulled the t shirt he was currently wearing off and chucking it into his dirty laundry bin.

He stood in front of the mirror for a while staring at the scars that ran up his side. There were a few around them that were just white but the bigger ones would never fade like that. The skin around them was slightly pinkish red and the actual scars were extremely messy.

The doctors had rushed the surgery not wanting to risk him losing to much blood just to make them look pretty. Around his ribs the skin was a greyish tinge with specks of purple in from the weight that had broken three of his ribs (apparently they had been center meters from puncturing his lungs and giving him permanent breathing issues.

The scars went all the way up his left side and the shoulder of his left arm was also mangled where patches of skin had been totally ripped of. There was also a large bite mark on his left arm that was the second annoying to hide since he had to where at least sleeves to his elbow in the summer and even then you could see the edges of the teeth marks.

The worst scar was definitely the one that ran from his jaw to above his eyebrows. It was mostly faded and really just a ragged slightly pink and slightly red line but it was in such as obvious place, at least the ones on his arms and body, and to an extent the scars on his neck, he could hide with clothes.

 Remus quickly grabbed his the t shirt and sweater he was going to wear and turned away from the mirror sick of the looking at himself, he had enough reminders of them without spending ages looking at them.

He hurried down the stais to see Lily pulling on a pair of ankle boots. She him up and down and smiled. "Oh my god, Remus you are just so cute" she said and stuck her tongue out at him and then grabbed her keys before heading out the door and Remus followed her not bothering to get his own pair.

 

The door was flung open before they even had a chance to knock and an exited looking James grinned at them.

He ushered them inside still smiling as he introduced them to his friend Peter who he also used to go to school with and a couple called Alice and Frank who lived a few doors down.

"Sirius is up stairs by the way, he takes the longest to get ready" James said and laughed a little before going back to his conversation with Frank about which football team would win, Peter looked like he was trying to add something but they hardly seemed to notice.

Seeing as Lily and Alice were all ready getting along well Remus slipped away and went up the stairs and knocked on the door he knew led into Sirius room.

"Come in" yelled a voice from inside so Remus opened the door to see Sirius sat in front of his mirror with a look of concentration on his face as he dragged a black eyeliner pencil along his lid.

Looking at him through the mirror Sirius grinned. "Remus, love, how are you?" He asked as though they hadn't been texting only an hour ago.

Remus shrugged a little and covered a yawn before sitting down on Sirius' bed and watched him smudge his eyeliner out and then pull his hair out of the bun he had put it in so it wasn't in his eyes. Remus noticed that it was held together with a pencil which amused him slightly.

Sirius grabbed one of his pairs of doc martens, a rusty red color, and flopped down next to Remus with a smirk.

"Ok so maybe you aren't the best judge of this, not that I don't think you taste is brilliant love but you probably don't have much experience, but do you think my nail polish is to chipped or can I justify just one more night?"

He held out his hands that had slightly chipped black nail polish on his fingers. Remus also noticed the smudged pencil down the sides of his hands and the rough skin where he would have held paintbrushes or pens or pencils for probably hours and the small scrapes on his knuckles that looked years old.

"You underestimate me Sirius, you realize my best friend is a girl right? When we were younger and she was figuring out how to apply make up I would be forced into being her model and no I think your nails are fin, they add character."

Sirius grinned a mischievous grin as though he was planning something but the look disappeared quickly and he just laughed a little before saying "well now that's sorted we should probably leave soon."

 

The seven of them had arrived at the party a few hours ago and Remus was sat in a slightly quieter corner of the house. There was a slight buzz running through him but he was always careful to not have more alcohol than he could take.

There were very few people in this room so Remus saw Sirius immediately  (he could of sworn a few other heads looked over, it seemed like the natural reaction of most people when Sirius walked into a room.)

Sirius had disappeared a couple of hours ago, he really was the life of the party, and now returned with two plastic cups and a pink smudge of lipstick on his cheek. He had a huge grin on his face when he sat down across from Remus.

"Not going to dance?" He asked and Remus laughed a little knowing how awkward he looked when dancing and instead said "you've got lipstick on your cheek."

He grimaced a bit and wiped his cheek, totally missing the stain, and said "yeah this girl, completely hammered, got dared to kiss me. I'm pretty sure she might have licked me actually, is it gone?"

Remus shook his head smiling a pointed on his own face to where the pink was and Sirius tried to wipe it again but did the wrong side.

Sighing Remus leant forward while pulling his sleeve up to cover his hand and wiped away the pink smudge leaving his face to close to Sirius. He stayed for a split second appreciating the view before pulling away before Sirius could notice.

He gave him a grin and then stood up and offered his hand before dragging Remus up and then pulling him towards the music while saying "you have to dance at least once Remus."

 

They were in the middle of a huge crowd and Remus kept bumping into people and muttered apologies he knew they couldn't hear.

Remus had no idea what music it was,all he knew was that it was very basey and crazy loud and that Sirius loved it. He was laughing  (though Remus couldn't hear) and jumping up and down and spinning.

He wasn't really dancing but he was moving to the music and dragging Remus with him who was slightly less graceful but pretty content with watching Sirius who seemed to know exactly what to do to avoid getting bumped into or trodden on.

When the song ended Sirius bowed jokingly and grabbed Remus' wrist before walking through the crowd to find a quieter place. He hardly seemed to try to get through people, they just moved out of the way before they knew what they were doing.

They ended up going outside to get some fresh air. There were a few other people (mostly groups of three or four and also a few couples who obviously just wanted some alone time.)

The two of them sat down on the cold ground and Sirius sighed contently when a waft a cold air hit them and said "don't get me wrong I love a good party, hell the party doesn't start till I arrive, but it can get really claustrophobic inside with so many people and cos it's so hot and loud and also quite few people are totally wasted."

Remus shrugged a little and nodded in agreement before saying "hey that reminds me, how are you not wasted? I'm pretty sure I saw you chug a fair few drinks of some alcoholic thing."

Grinning widely Sirius replied with "oh I'm just pretty amazing at holding alcohol, don't know why to be honest I just am. I also hate being drunk and I don't particularly enjoy hanging out with drunk people to much so I tend to be pretty careful not to go over my limit, not that that's saying much actually."

"Yeah I'm not a huge fan of being drunk either, I only did it once when I was 16 and Lily was invited to some 18 year olds party and dragged me along and I was throwing up and feeling ill all the next day, pretty awful."

"Exactly, also you can't really properly control what you do and you have no idea how you might act. It's happened to me like three times and I was on the verge of it a few other times though they were all pretty crazy nights."

 

"Hey is that Lily talking with James?" Sirius asked and Remus looked behind him to where Sirius was motioning to see his red headed best friend leaning against a wall and looking a little tipsy, she wasn't really a huge drinker but she was pretty lightweight though it seemed like she still knew exactly what she was doing with herself.

Remus nodded a little and Sirius continued. "Looks like Prongs is trying to flirt with her" he barked out a laugh and added "she doesn't seem to be enjoying it much though does she?"

He laughed a little in response and replied "oh you'd be surprised actually, she tends to pull that slightly 'I'm above you' face when really she is enjoying herself" which caused Sirius to laugh louder.

A minute later James seemed to realize Sirius was a there and ended up pulling Lily over to the two of them and flopping down onto the floor across from the two and Lily sat next to him.

"Padfoot!" James said loudly with a huge grin across his face and Sirius laughed a little before replying "Prongs, my love, how much have you you drunk tonight?" And he just waved the question off replying with something that sounded like "not that much now stop acting like my mother Pads."

Remus raised his eyebrows at Lily and gave her a small smile, silently communicating that he had just seen her with James and she blushed a little but just smiled back before moving her head not even an inch to motion at him and Sirius and he just shrugged. After spending most of their lives as best friends they were used to communicating like this, silently with one another.

"So what about an after party at ours then?" James asked suddenly, quite loudly for close they were all sitting and before even listening to anything anyone was going to say he yelled over to a group of about 5 other people and asked if they wanted to join.

 

It was about an hour and a half later that Remus found himself stuck. Most people had left but a few people were gathered round the tv catching up on the football from earlier but Sirius was shooing them out, quite politely actually.

The reason Remus was stuck was because he hadn't bought his keys as Lily had hers and often times he would just lose his so he hadn't bothered but Lily was currently with James up in his room and last Remus had saw of them they were in a fairly heated make out session that he really wasn't keen on interrupting.

Sirius was picking up the cans that were scattered around the living room and Remus decided to help by picking up the bottles that Sirius had left, presumably so he could pick them up after but Remus wanted to help.

"So you want to crash here then?" Sirius asked when they finished clearing up "Lily has the key doesn't she and I'm not sacrificing the minimal innocence I have left to get her to give it to you, it's also pretty dark out."

Looking sheepish Remus shrugged a little and said "yeah if you don't mind, I can sleep on the couch if you want" but Sirius just rolled his eyes and replied "as if, my beds big enough for two if us if we squeeze a little and believe me that even though this couch is comfortable for sitting on for a while you will get will get the worst back pain imaginable from sleeping here."

Mumbling a quite thank you Remus followed Sirius up to his room where Sirius passed him a plain black t shirt and some sweat pants that he said were slightly to long and would probably fit him before grabbing himself some clothes. 

Sirius immediately started to change out of his clothes before realizing that Remus was uncomfortable and just pointed out the bathroom again to remind him (it took a while for Remus to realize what he said as he was to busy admiring the way that tattoos cascaded from his shoulder, up his neck and then all down his chest and wondering where the faint patterns of bruises on his back and ribs came from.

Blushing a little when he realized he was staring Remus nodded and then went into the bathroom to change staring briefly at the same place where the tattoos had been on Sirius' body but now they were replaced with crude red scaring. 

When he went back into Sirius' room he found the boy staring at the ceiling as though slightly lost in thought but he snapped back to attention when he heard the door click shut.

"So you ok with me sleeping next to the wall?" To which Remus just nodded and slipped into bed next to him and then turned to face him. The bed wasn't exactly big enough for two as their noses were only a few center meters away but Remus found he didn't really care.

"Tell me a story please?" Sirius asked suddenly looking wide awake and Remus could see a small grin in the dim light.

Rolling his eyes slightly at the childishness he replied "a good or bad story? I've got both." And Sirius replied "let's start with a bad story and then maybe we can lighten it up a bit with a good one later."

Taking a deep breath Remus started to talk. "Ok well there was this guy who lived down the road from us and he was a huge gambler though he never made much money from it but he had rich parents that left him tons of money or something so he continued anyway. Anyway so my dad went on a night out with a couple of his mates from work and there was some sport game on and they were all putting bets down and this guy down the road decided to join in since he was at the pub to. Thing is he put to much money down really and dad ended up winning."

Sirius closed his eyes as if he was picturing the scene in front of him and then nodded for Remus to continue.

"So this guy had a guard dog who was pretty vicious, you got to near to him and he would bare his teeth at you and growl till you left, pretty intimidating. He had to always were a muzzle and was on a metal chain in case he attacked someone. So about a week after this huge loss I went to the nearby park to pass some time and this guy was there with his dog and next thing I know the dogs of top of me gnawing at my shoulder and clamping down on my arm, he was pretty vicious."

Remus was looking up at the ceiling not wanting to see Sirius' reaction, he hated when people pitied him. Eventually he felt a light tap on his arm and looked over to see Sirius looking sadly at him, slightly pity but mostly as also anger and sadness when he said "but you were alright?"

"Well I was luckily found a few minutes later by a girl who lived across the street from us and her dad was pretty good friends with mine so I got to hospital soon enough but they still had to rush with stitching me up in case I lost anymore blood, I was in there for almost a month because of the shock as well as the injuries and then after I got back I could hardly leave the house. Anyway we moved a little later when my parents realized every time I left the house I'd get a panic attack."

Sirius had really wanted to hug Remus and hold him tight but instead he just touched his hand softly hoping Remus would get the message and when he smiled ever so slightly at him Sirius figured that he had.

The two of them lay there in silence for a little longer before Remus broke it by saying "OK your turn then, tell me a story this time." 

Sirius nodded and then said "so I've got this scar behind my ear and a ton of others but they are all hidden mostly by my hair though there is another on top of my forehead that who can see if you look closely, well it was when my father" he said the word almost mockingly "came home one day totally drunk, he did it plenty of times before but this was the first time I was stupid enough to stay down stairs especially since he was in such a foul mood. I was about 7 by the way. Anyway he stormed into the kitchen and glared at me and I think I might have dropped something and it smashed or something because I was surprised to see him back early and he got proper angry and shoved me against the wall before smashing the beer bottle he was holding over my head."

Remus let out a small gasp, shocked, he hadn't thought anything of the fact that Sirius had said he had a shitty family or the fact that he had totally neglected picking up the beer bottles around the house and just picked up the cans though he could have probably held them both fine or even the fact that he seemed to really hate being around drunk people, he had moved away every time someone stumbled to close to them.

Continuing as though he hadn't heard Remus Sirius added "yeah after that it happened a couple more times, he might not hit me with a bottle but almost every weekend he would come back drunk and find me or my little brother and use his fist, mother didn't even try to stop him. She was almost as bad as him really, screamed at me that I disgusted her and that I wasn't worthy of the family. Regulus was the good kid, he knew how to act around mother but I just didn't bother. James noticed the marks when we were twelve and stopped believing my stupid excuses and when I was 14 I just left home and stayed with the Potters for a while before we came to uni together." 

Remus kept silent like Sirius had and just allowed him to think for a while before he gently pushed his hair back to see the scars on his forehead and ear that he had mentioned while also thinking of the bruises on his back and ribs and then traced his finger over the one on his jaw. He pulled up the t shirt sleeve  (luckily Sirius had given him ones with slightly longer sleeves) so Sirius could see the bite mark on his arm and his patched up shoulder.

Sirius reached out slowly as if asking for permission and when Remus nodded he gently traced around the bite marks, it was just soft touching and almost to the point of barely brushing against the skin but it was somehow comforting.

The both of them sat together in silence for while just watching each other and thinking about what they had just been told. Eventually Sirius broke the silence by saying "we should probably sleep huh?" And Remus nodded before pulling the blanket up higher to cover him, he hadn't noticed the cold chill that had come over the room since he was to focused on Sirius but now he noticed it.

Sirius mirrored him and then seemed to think for a few seconds before pulling Remus closer mumbling something like "body heat" but Remus didn't need an explanation, he wouldn't have said no to Sirius even if it was the middle of summer. He snuggled into Sirius slightly enjoying the warmth and breathing in the scent of smoke and alcohol but also a sort of musky, woody smell like he had been next to a fire and really just the smell of Sirius in general.

The other boy buried his nose into Remus' hair and smiled slightly. Remus smelt of ginger and cinnamon and grapefruit shampoo and a homey sort of smell. It wasn't that long before Sirius could hear Remus' breath started to become softer and he seemed to relax a bit more and fall into a peaceful sleep and Sirius just continued to smile at the boy though he knew he couldn't see.

 

Remus woke what was probably about two hours later and felt cold. He opened one eye slowly and blinked a few times at the light that was emitting from a small lamp on Sirius' desk that lit up the boys concentrated face as he smudged some pencil on his page. He glanced up and seemed to jump a little when he saw Remus watching him but then smiled a little sheepishly.

"Sorry if I woke you up, I don't sleep very easily and I get the weirdest urges to draw at times like 3am, I normally fall asleep while I work on them and also it's difficult to draw people people totally relaxed when they are awake, normally they are stiff cos they know you are drawing them or they move to much because they don't know you are." 

He just shrugged a little in response and then padded over asking "can I see? I haven't seen any of your drawings" and Sirius stiffened briefly but then handed the book over while saying "well I guess I have to, it is you after all." 

Remus was pretty sure he gasped out loud when he saw the drawing. It both looked exactly like him and also nothing like him. It was obviously just a rushed sketch at that moment but it was still amazing. His hair was falling in his face and his mouth was ever so slightly open with the hint of a smile on his lips (Remus could see rubber marks around it as though Sirius had re drawn it several times) and he looked completely as ease. There was no crease between his eyebrows he didn't seem to have the normal slight nervousness he usually had.

He didn't know how much time had passed before Sirius asked "so do you like it then?" 

Looking at him with his mouth slightly open in shock Remus replied "of cause! This is amazing Sirius, how long have you been drawing? Bloody brilliant you are" Before going back to the drawing noticing the small dents in his arm which was obviously the start of the bite marks. Somehow Sirius hadn't made the bite look like a disgusting scar and more like a piece of art.

He was still gaping slightly when he handed the book back to Sirius who had a small, obviously pleased, grin on his face and he immediately added a few extra lines to the drawing and smudged a bit more of the shadows.

 

When Remus woke up again in the morning Sirius was asleep this time looking as though he had just collapsed into bed and fallen asleep immediately. Smiling slightly Remus re positioned him so the pillow was under his head and pulled the covers around him. 

After brushing his hair away from his face with his hands and then using some mouth wash that was in the bathroom he padded down the stairs to see James and Lily already awake, James cooking some breakfast and Lily sat at the table yawning.

When Lily saw Remus she blushed a little, obviously embarrassed, but smiled none the less at him and said a quite good morning obviously tired.

James grinned at him from the kitchen before saying "I've cooked for you and Sirius as well by the way, he'll probably be up in a bit" before motioning for Remus to come into the kitchen.

"Hey so listen" he started as soon as Remus got close enough but he interrupted saying "if this is about Lily, she is old enough to look after herself and doesn't need my permission to go out with you or whatever but I swear to god, you do anything."

Nodding quickly James continued "oh of cause, I wouldn't dream of it and I just wanted to make sure you were ok with it, I mean we aren't actually together yet and obviously she can do what she likes but I just wanted to make sure."

Remus nodded and smiled slightly before saying "of cause, I know you are a pretty good guy and I think Lily likes you a lot." before turning back around and going back to the table to sit down.

Sirius came downstairs about 15 minutes later looking sleepy and gorgeous. His hair was tousled up (he obviously hadn't bothered smoothing it out before coming down stairs) and his eyes were slightly droopy. And when he said good morning to the three of them his voice was sleepy and deeper and (quite sexy Remus had to admit.)

He grinned though when he saw the breakfast laid out for him and before sitting down in his chair kissed James on the cheek (who was laughing) while saying "darling, promise me when you will still cook me breakfast sometimes even when we are old" And James just grinned even wider at his best friend.

After the three of them finished Sirius volunteered to clean up and Remus ended up helping. It was nearly midday by this time because it was a Saturday and no one had got up early.

"So do you want to come into town with me today?" Sirius asked while reaching up to put a few plates on the top shelf of their cupboard (which he couldn't quite reach and had to stand on his toes to get there but he said it was funny watching James have to drag a chair into the kitchen so he could get to it)

Remus nodded before remembering Sirius wasn't looking and then said "yeah sure, any specific reason?" 

"I just need some art supplies, mostly paint, and then nothing else really just hanging out." Before pausing and then adding excitedly "hey wanna take my bike?"

Remus turned around with his eyebrows raised slightly to see Sirius grinning at him widely while saying "don't worry it's safe, I've done it tons with James and it's so fun!"

After small silence Remus sighed before nodding and saying "ok fine we can take the bike." To which Sirius jumped slightly, obviously exited, and then continued to tidy as quickly as he could.

 

The two of them were standing next to the bike, Sirius with a huge grin and Remus looking rather unsure. He was holding the spare helmet and staring at the bike as though it was some dangerous animal.

"Don't worry, I'm perfectly responsible on the road" Sirius said noting the worry on Remus' face before pulling his own helmet over his head and then swinging one leg over motioning for Remus to sit behind him, which he did after a few more frozen seconds.

He tentatively wrapped his arms around Sirius as though he was worried about touching to much and just Sirius smirked again before pulling him closer while saying "believe me, your gonna want to hold tight" And before Remus had time to process what he was saying Sirius kicked the engine into life and suddenly the two of the were speeding off (Remus holding tighter as soon as he realized what was happening) 

After the feeling of terror mostly disappeared Remus felt a rush of energy go through him and started watching the road as they sped along. He continued to hold Sirius tightly but was now grinning wide and laughing.

Sirius was stretching the truth slightly when he said he was a safe driver. Sure, he was being legal but only just. He was right on the speed limit and occasionally went just over and seemed to enjoy taking sharper turns and slightly more dangerous and longer routes to the center of town.

 

When the two of them finally arrived (they took quite a few detours) Remus was buzzing. He caught sight of himself in a window and saw how wide and full of excitement his eyes were.

"Well that was more fun than I thought it would be" he said, finally calming down a little before adding "though a little to intense for me, I wouldn't be able to do it often." 

Sirius was still grinning and looked extremely happy at Remus' feeling towards riding before he turned and started walking to the main street yelling at Remus to keep up.

 

After walking down the street for a little Sirius turned into a much smaller and less noticeable street while he continued his story of how he and James had accidentally gotten work experience at a salon after applying as a joke.

One more minute of walking they arrived at a cute, retro looking shop that looked like any artists dream. When they walked in Remus' eyes were drawn to the painting and drawings spread across the walls and the tapestry hung up behind the counter.

Sirius greeted the girl behind the counter with a huge grin and then walked over to one of the shelves filled with tons of different paints. Remus could hardly tell the difference between some of the colors but watching Sirius he could see that to his trained eye they were very different.

He watched Sirius for a little longer as he debated over three different shades of red before curiosity got the better of him and he started wondering around the shop admiring the work and finding a funny pleasure from seeing all the colors of oil pastels spread around perfectly.

Sirius didn't take very long on choosing his paints but then seemed to get lost while wondering around the shop and occasionally picking some paper up to feel the thickness of check the softness of a brush. After what felt like forever of wondering around the shop Sirius walked to the counter his arms full of supplies (which had made Remus laugh as he was only going to get some paint) 

He introduced Remus to the girl (though he didn't remember her name) and they chatted about her most recent work for a while before buying the things and then waving their goodbyes and walking back into the street.

Sirius was still smiling in a different way that Remus had seen him when they arrived at a small cafe near the shop. Remus had enjoyed watching Sirius examine the different things around him in the art shop and the way he seemed to get a child like sort of excitement every time he found something he'd or had been looking for and the smile that had lit up the second he walked in and still hadn't faded. 

 

It was slowly getting darker now (Remus and Sirius had lost track of time while talking) so the two of them were heading back towards the motorbike though they were taking a longer route so they could continue their conversation.

They were just heading down a back alley that would lead them right to where they had parked when they saw a small gang of people, all of them wearing a green bandanna, either in their hair or on their wrist of some other place.

Sirius froze slightly when he saw the group but then continued to walk as though he hadn't seen them, though he stayed quite and didn't continue talking about the motorbike repair shop he worked at.

Just as they were walking past the gang when a girl shouted out "Hey Sirius! fancy seeing you here."

The girl had dark tangled hair and wild eyes. Her green bandanna was around her neck and Remus thought she would probably be fairly attractive if she just cleaned herself up a bit as she looked slightly mad.

Sirius sighed quietly and turned around with an obviously fake smile while saying "Bella, my dear cousin. Now what would a girl like you be doing out this late?" his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Bella let out a shrieky sort of laugh that was obviously forced and grinned, all her teeth showing as though she was an animal about to pounce on their prey. "Oh I'm just hanging around with this lot, you know most of them I assume. Lucius is here, he's going out with Cissy now did you know? There are a few others from school as well though Regulus gave us the slip tonight, know anything about that?"

"Well me and Reg don't tend to talk about you lot" Sirius replied "but I'm glad he has finally seen some sense, don't want him ending up in prison like you did huh Bellatrix?"

 Everyone was giving Sirius death glares now but he didn't seem to notice, only smirked a bit wider at Bellatrix who look ready to murder him and was obviously holding herself back from launching in him.

A tense minute of silence passed and Remus fully expected a fight to break out but the others didn't seem to want to obviously noticing the people walking past and instead just continued glaring.

Sirius eventually turned around and gave an offhanded wave to them saying "anyway I should be off, tell my mother you saw me? don't want her to get to exited at the prospect of me disappearing completely" while walking away.

Remus followed quickly as headed back to the motorbike. He didn't turn around but Remus could feel the glares on his back as a quite hum of conversation restarted. 

 

When the two of them got back they found James and Lily curled up on the sofa together while watching a movie. Sirius slipped into the kitchen saying he was getting some popcorn and Remus sat down on the armchair.

Sirius walked back in with a bag of popcorn and looked at the sofa for a few seconds before flopping down onto the armchair with Remus so they were squished together while he said "I don't really feel like sitting next to the lovebirds."

Remus smiled a bit and nodded before grabbing a handful of popcorn and watching the movie but before long he stared drifting off into unconsciousness and snuggled into Sirius a little more who was the closest source of warmth and faintly remembered Sirius stroking his hair gently but he didn't know if he'd imagined it or not.

He woke what must have been a but more than an hour later as the film was finished and Sirius, Lily and James were all talking about the end. Sirius had his arm around Remus whose head was resting on his chest.

Sitting up slightly Remus blinked a few times and yawned causing Sirius to break away from the conversation to look at him and give him a faint grin while saying "hey there sleepyhead." He paused for a few seconds watching Remus rub his eyes and then said with a slight laugh "your hair has gotten a little messy" before reaching out to flatten down one side.

Lily interrupted saying "oh good you're awake, I hate having to force you awake and I didn't want to walk home alone."

Remus nodded and then stood up slowly, sad to be leaving the warmth of Sirius, and then smiled a little at her before saying "should we head back then?"

After saying their goodbyes the two of them headed out to go back to their house while Lily chatted away about James and what they had done that day and how she wasn't really sure if they would be anything serious but he seemed to like her a lot and she guessed he was pretty cool.

"So what about you and Sirius? you guys were getting pretty cosy earlier?" she asked when the two of the walked into their house and Remus blushed a little before replying "I don't know, he probably thinks I'm just a friend and besides he is way out of my league."

Lily looked just about ready to slap some sense into him but instead she said "oh shut up Rem, he seems totally taken by you and who wouldn't be? you're kind and funny and caring and bloody adorable."

"Oh obviously" Remus replied sarcastically with a roll of his eyes but Lily interrupted. "If you had been awake you would have seen the way he was watching you, he missed the entire movie as he was to busy stroking your hair and he looked just about ready to snog you senseless."

Now blushing madly Remus just sighed a little bfore kissing Lily on the cheek and saying "whatever you say Lils, I'm going to bed now."

 

 


	3. Talking till the AM

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok I'm really sorry I just totally ditched this story cos I just sort of hated it and didn't know what to do and decided ignoring it was the best way to go about it but I've decided to try writing another chapter and I'm sorry if this is awful but I just sort of felt like writing again but I don't have much of an idea for what's gonna happen

**Sirius: _so you up for it or are you gonna ditch me? :P_**

Remus sighed reading the text message before typing a quick reply.

**Remus: _OK fine, I'll come to your art gallery._**

The reply was almost instant.

**Sirius: _yay!!!! :D_**

**Sirius: _loveee youuu <333!!_**

**Sirius: _ill pick you up at 4.30 xx_**

Remus sent back a text saying that was fine and added one x at the end out of habit (Sirius had always bugged him about it before saying something like "how am I supposed to know you love me?")

Checking the clock Remus realised he only had about half an hour to get ready so he quickly grabbed a pair of jeans to change into instead of the sweatpants he was currently wearing and fixed his tousled hair before going downstairs to find Lily also there.

When she saw him she smiled before asking "hey have you seen my green earings? The small ones not the dangly weird ones I got for Christmas last year." 

"Yeah they were in that bowl next to the tv you keep change in last I saw them." Lily grinned and ran over to it finding them there while Remus continued "going anywhere special?" While he tried to find himself some shoes.

Lilys smile grew wider while she put her earings in and said "yeah me and James are going out for the rest of the afternoon and I'll probably just stay the night, what about you? Going out or something?"

Shrugging as though he didn't care he replied with "yeah Sirius has invited me to this art gallery he has to go to for school, he should be picking me up in a bit." 

Lily grinned evily as him but didn't comment, she had forced Remus to talk about Sirius and he found once he started talking he couldn't stop but eventually he had been able to get Lily to swear to take the secret to her grave refusing to listen to her about how much Sirius obviously liked him.

Remus had just finished tying up his laces when a knock came from the door and he heard Lily shout that she would get it and listened as he heard the loud greetings.

He walked into their little hallway to see Sirius grinning while James, blushing a whole lot, said something about how great Lily looked before glancing over to see Remus at the door and his smile widened slightly.

Remus walked over and greeted James with a smile before turning to Sirius and saying "should we go then?"

"What's the hurry Remus, I was planning on enjoying the awkwardness of James for a little while longer" he said while obviously holding back a laugh.

Rolling his eyes Remus just replied "that's exactly why I want to leave" and then turned around to say goodbye to the two before grabbing Sirius' arm and pulling him out of the door and started heading down their road to the main one.

"The gallery isn't that far which is why I didn't bring my bike and also there is a specific show going on at the moment which is what we are gonna be looking at cos it's only here for like another two weeks or something."

Remus hummed slightly to show he'd heard and walked up the main road while puling his coat tighter when a gust of wind blew past.

~~~

"Oh and this one is really cool! It's really interesting actually cos you see those girls there are holding the paintbrush and the books, well basically it was like a symbol that they were educated and stuff with music and literature and things and this thing over here-"

Remus couldn't help but just watch Sirius as he rambled on about the tiny little things in the painting that Remus would have probably not even noticed (and definitely wouldn't have thought about the meaning) if someone hadn't pointed it out.

Sirius had been so exited ever since they had walked into the gallery and had spent most of the time pointing out little things to Remus or else just staring in wonder at the amazing paintings while Remus had either tried to take everything in or given up and just contently watched Sirius be happy at everything.

"Hey Remus you aren't listening!" Sirius half whined snapping Remus out of his trance making him blush slightly because he assumed he had just been staring at Sirius.

"Oh- sorry I got a bit lost in thought there but.. uh yeah, it's really interesting actually how much detail they put into everything, like some things we probably don't even know the meaning of but the people then or maybe inly the artist actually would have got it."

Sirius was beaming, obviously pleased that Remus found it interesting before nodding in agreement and then grabbing his hand and dragging him to the next painting which a group of people had just walked away from.

The two of them spent about an hour doing this, wondering from painting to painting to the occasional sculpture before leaving the gallery with Sirius practically bouncing from exitment.

They stoped off to get themselves take away drinks (Remus just a regular latte while Sirius got a latte but with some weird flavouring that Remus couldn't remember.)

Remus was asking Sirius a few questions about the show while they wondered around when Sirius suddenly said "hey my brother is just down the road from here, do you want to meet him? He works at a tattoo parlour, well practically owns it with my cousin, and I wanted to make an appointment anyway so do you wanna?"

The taller boy couldn't help but feel a little nervous at the prospect but nodded anyway interested to meet Sirius' brother (Sirius had told him that they were close when they were younger but then grew apart because Sirius was more ready to fight their parents but then when he got kicked out they had started talking more again, though in secret so Regulus wouldn't get in to much trouble with their parents.)

Sirius led the way down a side road and then took a left before walking down a little further and walking into a fairly big parlour that had drawings and tapestries hung up everywhere.

A woman who was currently shuffling through some music which was playing quietly looked up when she heard the door closed and smiled widely at the sight of Sirius before walking up to him and giving him a very quick hug and then pinched his cheek a little.

"Sirius! Finally decided to show your face again huh? I was worried you went and got yourself into some sort of trouble again."

Sirius had a small grin on his face and replied "well thanks for worrying Andie but it's nothing, the biggest trouble I've got right now is the ridiculous amount of Uni work that been stopping me from coming to see you again. Oh this is Remus by the way and Remus this is Andie, my favourite cousin."

Andie gave Sirius a grin before turning around and giving Remus a smile and a quick hug and then said "well I mean thee isn't much competition, Bella isn't exactly worth counting as a relative anymore and Cissy has been hanging out with the wrong crowd for too long now so she's been getting herself into some trouble."

Remus watched the two of them talk a little bit (Andie filling Sirius in about how her and Teddy redecorating their living room, again, and Sirius talking about his art)  taking in the animated way they both talked while also trying to subtly look at Andie's tattoos and eyebrow piecing.

It was only a few more minutes before a curtain at the back of the room opened to reveal a boy who looked extremely like Sirius (but he had shorter hair, though still fairly long, and slightly thinner eyes that weren't ringed by eyeliner and he also didn't have quite the same air of confidence that reeked off of his older brother.)

"Hiya Reg!" Sirius said before clapping his hand against the younger boys.

Regulus rolled his eyes a little (presumably at the nickname) but Remus also saw the hint of a smile before he said "Sirius your hair is getting slightly ridiculous now, aren't you going to cut it?" 

"Not anytime soon! Oh by the way this is Remus and Remus this is my little brother Reg though he complains about it and prefers Regulus." Sirius replied and Regulus just rolled his eyes before saying "Literally my name is Regulus" and the reached forward to clap Remus' hand before turning back to Sirius and giving him a sly smile.

"I would like to say that I am still taller than you as well which means you are technically the little one."

The four of them talked for a little while longer, Andie asking Remus a lot of questions while shooting looks at Sirius that Remus didn't understand and Regulus mostly stayed quite though Remus assumed it was just his personality as he look pretty happy (though tried to hide it.)

"We should probably head back soon actually, it's gonna get dark soon but first I wanna show you somethin Reg, want to get a new tattoo."

"Alright sure lets go to the other room, Andie that guys gonna be here pretty soon but can you ask him to wait a little bit?"

"Reg I own this place by the way so no bossing me around I know though don't take too long cos the girl who wants that fox is gonna be here soon and I have to start work pretty quick as it's gonna take a while."

Regulus just nodded and ushered Sirius forwards who grabbed Remus by the hand and pulled him forward too. The three walked behind the dark purple curtain to a room that was split in two by another curtain and they all walked to the left side to a table that was filled with sketches and designs.

Sirius pulled out a piece of paper and put it on the table to reveal two purple flowers intertwined by their stalks and pushed it over to Regulus who began to examine it.

"Uh huh" the boy nodded "and where were you thinking?" 

Sirius pulled his shirt by the neck a little to put his hand neck to his shoulder blade while saying "just here though it's gonna be really near those playing cards so it might have to be a little smaller than the actual drawing which I don't really mind as long as it looks like those flowers."

Regulus seemed to give his brother a bit of a weird look but Remus wasn't sure and instead just looked at a few of the other drawings spread around (quite a lot of them making his eyes widen at the brilliance) and couldn't help but notice a few of them had a Sirius' name scrawled at the bottom.

"Alright well should be easy enough and it's not really detailed like some of your other ones have been so it won't take nearly as long, your gonna need to take your shirt of so I can see how big it can actually be."

Sirius nodded and pulled the dark grey shirt (which had really cool patterns on the front) over his head and turned around so Regulus could look at his shoulder blade leaving Remus with a perfect veiw of his abs (and also Sirius was turning his head slightly to look at his younger brother so he almost definitely wouldn't be caught for just a quick look.)

Remus tried to turn away but ended up looking anyway, taking in the lightly toned abs and the slight bruising and also the writing across Sirius' chest which had a few red roses around it. He also watched the flex of his neck when he tried to turn his head more and the pretty broad shoulders that kept flexing and unflexing so while Regulus mesured the area he would be working on.

"Alright sure how's Monday? I would do it tomorrow or the day after but Fridays and Saturdays are always really busy so you'll just have to wait a few extra days, now shoo so I can get back to work and actually make some good money." 

Sirius snorted whie he puled his shirt over his head "I doubt you'll need to any longer, our dear old mother will be off soon and I doubt anything'll be left for me and I make decent money with the motorbikes so shut it." 

"Yeah well I'm selling most of the stuff anyway, might rent out the house actually since I reckon I'd be haunted by every Black ever if I sold it and I am not living in that place and I've told you a million times I'm splitting the money with you, I don't need or want that much."

Sirius waved one hand dismissively as though they had talked about it may times before and instead said "well if you ever marry you are sure as hell gonna have the wedding of the century with that fortune." 

"Sure sure, now get outta here" Regulus replied with a small grin and then walked into the main part of the shop.

~~~

"So now you've met Andie and Reg, between the two of them I think they've done about 90 percent of my tattoos though it mostly Reg cos Andie does more...I dunno her style is just different to mine and Reg's but it's great for the shop since they cover a huge spectrum together. Normally they'll have someone else with them, like a younger person who just helps with appointments and stuff but nothing much happens on a Thursday."

The two boys were just walking down the little path that led to Remus' house after mutually agreeing that it would be better since Lily and James would be together in the other house and sometimes it was better to leave them alone.

Remus unlocked the front door and pulled his shoes off before turning to look at Sirius and saying "well we can either order some takeaway, me and Lils have all the menus, or I'll cook something up but frankly I can't be bothered."

"Right well I'm feeling cheap, tacky, greasy pizza so why don't we call them up and just be lazy then?" Sirius asked and Remus jut nodded in agreement before grabbing a menu so the two could decide on some food.

~~~

They had finished the food and Sirius was sprawled across the sofa with his head on Remus' lap while Remus played with his hair (after Sirius had grabbed his hand and demanded "oi, show me love")

The taller boy was plaiting and unplaiting the Sirius' hair and then twirling it around his fingers while occasionally tugging in slightly and ruffling it before stroking it back down again while Sirius just let out content little sighs with the occasional hum of happiness.

Originally they had planned to watch a movie together but had instead just sat (or lay) down and talked planning on putting it on in 5 minutes and before they realised it had been almost an hour.

They were in a comfortable silence now, lost in their own thoughts, and neither had really moved apart from Remus' fingers when Sirius suddenly rubbed his eyes and yawned before pushing himself up a little to rest on his elbows.

"As much as I'm enjoying the attention love, I doubt you want me faling asleep on your lap so you can move."

Letting out a little laugh Remus (trying not to think to much) just moved himself around so his legs were either side of Sirius and pulled his shoulder down so now his head was on his stomach and replied "nah I'm pretty comfy actually and you've got a warm head so I don't mind really."

Sirius closed his eyes and let out a little sigh when Remus started fiddling with his hair again and replied "nice to know I've got a warm head" before returning into silence which was then broken by him again when he moved both of Remus' hand to reposition them while saying "you ever thought of giving head massages? Your bloody brilliant at it."

Shrugging a little and being careful not to move Sirius, Remus replied "no I haven't, I don't really give people head massages on the regular ya know?"

"Ohh so I'm special then?" Sirius said with an evil grin and a slight cock of his eyebrow though his eyes remained closed.

"Yes I guess you could say that" Remus replied with a litle sigh and an eyeroll but also a small smile.

Sirius grinned again and then settled into Remus a little more but before long he was poking Remus in the side and moving again to which Remus said "oh for goodness sake Sirius your supposed to relax and stay still, not fidget tons."

Sirius turned around to look at Remus so now his chin was resting on where Remus' bellybutton was and just grinned wider before saying "you can't tell me how to live my life, besides I've sat still enough for tonight and now I'm hyper."

Throwing his head back to rest on the arm of the sofa Remus let out a drawn out sigh. "Oh of course you hyper, of course you are just as I get tired. You're exhausting Sirius."

The dark haired boy just jumped up from his seat and pulled Remus along with him while he went to the kitchen and grabbed two cans of coke and the handed one to the other boy.

"Come on we are having our own little party." 

~~~

It turned out that what Sirius meant by party was gathering probably far too much junk food and sugar than healthy and turning up music as loud as they could with neighbours while Sirius danced and tried to get Remus to which ended with him just sort of awkwardly moving from one side to another while Sirius swayed and moved his arms around somehow looking great doing a stupid dance.

What Sirius meant by a party also ended with him flopping onto the floor and laughing at how ridiculous everything was and start talking about totally random things like how his whole family was named after constellations and how wasn't it weird that leaves fell every year just to grow back again and what people thought when it first happened and did they panic because what if they didn't grow again and the beautiful leaves were gone forever.

Remus just flopped next to him not caring how stupid it looked and just nodded along while covering his own laughs because honestly who could start a deep conversation about leaves without sounding slightly crazy other than Sirius Black?

 

~~~

"Ugh Sirius please, I'm trying to sleep"  Remus groaned with his head buried in one of his pillows while Sirius kept tugging at his t shirt and chatting away.

"But Remusss I want to talk." The other boy replied but instead of saying something back Remus just sat up and then forced his shoulder down before lying down again so they were now lying next to each other.

"You can talk tomorrow Sirius, I wanna sleep." 

"Ugh fine!" He replied and then shuffled around a bit and threw one arm around Remus' waist making him tense up a little but eventually relax again and finally fall asleep.

 


End file.
